UKBN Raises More Money

UKBN last raised equity money in October of 2014; a £1m investment from GLI Finance in exchange for 13.99% of the business. At the time, the company was worth around £7m. Ergo, this latest injection of funding has more than doubled UKBN’s valuation, in well under a year.

Two of UKBN’s key shareholders – GLI Finance and Scott Fletcher – have increased the size of their positions in the company. Both exercised warrants in order to do so. GLI now holds 15.84% of the company, while Mr. Fletcher holds 7.27%.

The £500k round also saw Michael Baptista, Founder CEO of Assembly Capital Advisors, enter into the UKBN capital structure. Assembly will soon launch as a specialist VC, and Mr. Baptista will roll up the UKBN investment into the new fund upon launch.

Chris Maule, Founder and Chief Executive of UKBN, weighed in on the fundraise:

“Although we were not seeking further funding, the strategic value offered by bringing Michael in to our business was clear. We are delighted to welcome him as a shareholder; he brings a wealth of experience, and a fantastic network of contacts. We have now reached a stage in our development where we are looking to accelerate our growth, and the investment we have received from Michael, as well as Scott and GLI, will not only enable us to expand our lending capabilities, but will allow us to strengthen our in-house legal expertise, further increasing the speed with which we can deliver funds to our borrowers.”

The UK’s only online marketplace for bonds has lent a cumulative total of around £4.4m to date. Valuations in the alternative finance space are routinely gaudy, but they do tend to be at least loosely tied to cumulative lending figures. That doesn’t appear to have held true for UK Bond Network. The logic must surely hinge on the growth potential for a platform that is, to be fair, unique in its offering. Michael Baptista gave his take on the platform:

“I am impressed not only with UK Bond Network’s business model, but also the focus and integrity of the team. UK Bond Network delivers financing to SMEs, who are beginning to turn away from the Banks; UK Bond Network is equally focused on delivering outperformance to investors. The care taken with underwriting suggests sustainability, and this new funding should help deliver a strong H2 in 2015.”

Comments

Your Name:

Enter a Comment:

Your comment has been submitted to our moderators

AltFi London Summit 2019

The UK's oldest and best-loved conference for fintech and alternative finance insiders returns for its sixth iteration at etc.venues. We'll showcase the best of the UK's digital banking, online lending and digital wealth sectors through a series of uniquely in-depth discussions and presentations. Open Banking will be in full flight, just over a year on from its launch, and will be a central theme at the event.

About AltFi

Altfi provides market-leading news, insights and data on the rapidly growing alternative finance and fintech world. Our core focus is on alternative lenders, including both peer-to-peer/marketplace lenders and direct lenders as well as investment in alternative credit, equity crowdfunding, challenger banks and robo-advice. In addition, AltFi runs major industry conferences and seminars globally, and our sister company AltFi Data is widely regarded as the premier source of institution-grade analytics for alternative finance.